Evening primrose and borage

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue

> Hello all,

>

> I've had an enquiry from a patient who had read somewhere (she couldn't

remember where!) that women taking EPO or Borage long term have been

reported to have an increased incidence of abnormal cells from smear tests.

I've not heard of this - have any of you?

Both EPO and borage oil are very high in omega-6 fatty acids and contain

virtually no omega-3 fatty acids, so tend to bias the fat metabolism down

the PG1 and PG2 pathways, which is why I always recommend hemp seed oil

(much yawning and cries of 'oh no, not hemp seed oil again!!!') as it has

the correct balance of omega-3 and omega-6 faty acids (at least according to

Udo Erasmus).

> Also, I wondered if any of you have any patients, particularly female, who

are cabin crew/ flight attendants/ pilots, especially those who are on long

haul flights and cross time zones with astonishing regularity ? Unusual

question I know, but I have a lady patient who is cabin crew. She has asked

me to enquire of you all if you know of any patients like her who have

numerous health problems which we both feel are down to the job she does.

She has noticed that a large percentage of the people she works with do have

problems, noticeably gynae/fertility and wondered if this is across the

board or that she is just working with an unhealthy bunch!

I have a female patient who is the wife of a pilot, and she says that he is

constantly coming down with respiratory infections which is probably due to

the poor quality of the recycled air that planes have,

> Best wishes,

> Sue Cobbold sue.cobbold@...

Cheers

Graham White B.Sc. (Herb. Med.), MNIMH.

Medical Herbalist

Bishop's Stortford & Buntingford

--------------------------------------------------------------------

gcwhite@...

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

A quick note regarding the conditions expressed by those on frequent long and

short haul flights.

Last year I was preparing to board a domestic flight here in Canada and was in

line to go through the " scanners " in security. I had some homeopathic remedies

with me and asked that they not go through the Xray machine. The security person

operating the machine told me that saving my remedies from the airport's

security apparatus would make no difference at all since the radiation exposure

on the plane was at least 50 times what her little Xray machine would put out.

She advised me to put anything I didn't want exposed to the radiation in a

lead-lined bag like those found in photographic stores.

If this is true, then pilots and flight attendants are subject to low level

radiation for hours at a time several days a week. Conditions expressed in

" radiation syndrome " include: anorexia, headache, vomiting, diarrhea,

amenorrhea, sterility, cataract formation, blood cell formation disturbances,

cancer and leukemia to name a few.

Perhaps another avenue to think about when treating flight crew? (Or when next

you take a flight somewhere yourselves??)

Cheers,

Kerry

--

Kerry Hackett, BFA, CHT, MNIMH

Vancouver, BC, Canada

" Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher. "

Wordsworth

[Guest guest]

Dear Kerry

I think the advise given to you by the security person was a bit naive. First of

all if your homeopathic medicine did not contain proteins or lipids or in

general biomolecules was not going to be damaged with neither the x-rays from

the security machine nor from the background radiation in the plane. Even in

this case the amount of radiation and the dose rate are important factors.

Secondly, the amount of radiation from the security machine can be less than

what you get in the plane but not always. If you are passing through the

security gate he/she is right but if your luggage is passing through the scanner

and the security person wants to scrutinize your luggage and slows the belt down

your belongings are going to receive larger amount of radiation in comparison to

the on board back ground radiation.

Third, the quality of radiation in aircraft is not exactly the same as what they

use for security screening. Your security screening is x rays but those in plane

can be x-rays and other types of radiation which are produced from the

interaction of the cosmic rays with the body of the aircraft. One of these can

be neutrons which can easily penetrate from your lead lined foil. I can promise

you your water bottle is a better protection against neutrons than lead. You

should not be alarmed I am talking about a minute amount of radiation just to

get my message to you. Different types of radiations require different types of

protection.

Fourth, the words " Radiation syndrome " with the definitions that you have given

does not apply to this kind of radiation at all. Radiation effect is dependent

on type of tissue, dose, dose rate and quality of radiation. Radiation syndrome

needs doses in region of a few gray to develop while in long journey you are

talking about a few micro Severs ( or for simplicity just say micro gray). As an

example I can refer you to an American study by Seed et al (to be published in

the British Journal of Radiology )who shows that dogs exposed to 22 hr per day

for the duration-of-life to cobalt 60 gamma rays did not show any alteration in

their capacity to maintain the production of the cells of all lineages of the

bone marrow. We are talking about a daily dose rate of 30mGy per day and a dose

of over 1 Gy in year and hemopoietic system which is one of the most sensitive

tissues to radiation.

The average dose recived by a UK resident is about 2500microSievert per year and

the limit for a radiation worker is 50mSievert per year total body.

Sorry it became a bit longer than what I meant but don't be so much worried

about radiation. Chemicals and other pollutants can be equally damaging for

delicate living tissues.

Mohi Rezvani, MNIMH

[Guest guest]

> Chemicals and other pollutants can be equally damaging for delicate

>living tissues.

Hi Mohi,

Thanks for the explanation, knowing the above, I feel much more secure

than I did before your email!

All the best,

Benn

--

Benn Abdy- MNIMH

benn@...

[Guest guest]

Hello Mohi,

Thanks so much for your explanation. Just to make it perfectly clear however,

would you state that in your opinion the amount of time spent on planes with the

type of radiation inherent there has absolutely no effect whatsoever on flight

crews specifically?

Thanks again,

Kerry

--

Kerry Hackett, BFA, CHT, MNIMH

" Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher. "

Wordsworth

[Guest guest]

Dear Kerry

The answer to your question is not that easy. This is an area that is still

being researched. However, once you distinguish between deterministic

(non-stochastic) and stochastic effects of radiation. By deterministic we mean

any observable/measurable damage to cells or cell kill that their intensity is

dose dependent. The evidence suggest that the amount of radiation received by

air crew can not cause any deterministic effect.

I am sure further results will appear in the future but I believe in the study

of health state of air crew other factors such as high altitudes, pressure

changes and most importantly breathing of polluted recirculated air should be

considered besides possible effects of irradiation.

I hope this helps.

Mohi

[Guest guest]

I've a few patients who are frequent fliers for whom I make up an " antiviral " Rx

to take pre and post flight, they were in a cycle of flight-respiratory

iinfections...also the few long term cabin crew I've seen have all been

chemically sensitive and needed appropriate treatment. One Px told me how they

would have to show the empty aerosols of insecticide that was sprayed around the

cabin once the doors had closed. These are usually sprayed at head height over

the passengers, and presumably the residue then recirculates via the ac through

the whole flight. There is a website with info on this procedure and others -

and the details of the countries that insist on them.www.flyana.com

Regards Jules

[Guest guest]

I've had an enquiry from a patient who had read somewhere (she couldn't

remember where!) that women taking EPO or Borage long term have been reported to

have an increased incidence of abnormal cells from smear tests. I've not heard

of this - have any of you?

Best wishes,

Sue Cobbold sue.cobbold@...

Sue,

I can only add to the suspicions of your patient, without providing any

facts.

I was recently giving a talk to a local breast cancer support group and a met

a young woman who suffered from breast cancer at the age of 28. She is

convinced that it resulted from her taking what she described as " megadoses of

evening primrose oil " . No other details, but I made a mental note to keep this

information for further reference.

Barton

[Guest guest]

There is some evidence to suggest that mega-doses of GLA stimulate breast

cancer. I'll try and find the reference in my notes on oils etc. Although I

know of no evidence of the abnormal smear test thing.

Stuart Fitz

[Guest guest]

I've had an enquiry from a patient who had read somewhere (she couldn't

remember where!) that women taking EPO or Borage long term have been reported

to have an increased incidence of abnormal cells from smear tests. I've not

heard of this - have any of you?

Best wishes,

Sue Cobbold sue.cobbold@...

Sue,

I can only add to the suspicions of your patient, without providing any

facts.

I was recently giving a talk to a local breast cancer support group and a

met a young woman who suffered from breast cancer at the age of 28. She is

convinced that it resulted from her taking what she described as " megadoses of

evening primrose oil " . No other details, but I made a mental note to keep

this information for further reference.

Barton